It Takes Two
by eternallyklaroline
Summary: "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,"


Caroline made herself comfortable in her bed, remote in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. She hit play and settled back onto a pillow. She'd stared at the dvd for hours, battling with herself on whether or not she should watch, but she was a masochist.

She sat and watched Klaus get down on one knee and propose. He'd arranged for Stefan to be there to record it and still keep it a secret from her. She watched her other 3 engagements, because she kept insisting that he had to do it right. A tear fell as she remembered how irrational everyone thought she was being, especially Elena, who insisted she was just lucky to be proposed to once.

But she hadn't been able to help it, and Klaus had redone it happily. He'd ignored them all and assured her that he loved her so much he'd propose a thousand times, anything to make her happy. She hit fast forward through the entire wedding planning process, what she'd recorded of it anyway. She didn't want to watch that. The thought of living through that kind of stress again was stressful itself. She didn't even want to think about how she'd had to go through six florists, 2 caterers, and 5 pianists.

She pressed stop when she saw her standing in front of a full body mirror, just minutes before the wedding. The room behind her buzzed with energy. Everyone was making last minute touch ups, her bridesmaids fixing each other and even ticking at Caroline, making sure her dress was in exactly the right place and that her veil was perfectly straight and that her curls were sufficiently curly.

She remembered being able to drown them all out. She was getting married. To Klaus Mikaelson. The very same Klaus Mikaelson that she'd known since she was eight. The very same Klaus she'd thought she despised for years. Or at least thought she was supposed to. She could hardly believe it. Caroline touched her face, unsurprised to feel that her it was tearstained. She wiped away the moisture and continued to watch the video, frowning as it cut to Klaus' pre-wedding preparations.

She choked back a small sob as she watched Klaus eagerly get ready to marry her. Stefan was in front of him at first, fixing his tie, but the second Stefan stepped aside she could see Klaus' excitement more clearly. Aside from the big stupid grin on his face he couldn't seem to stay still. She could see the love in his eyes. He was ready to marry her, more so than he'd ever been for anything in his whole life.

"You take care of her." Stefan warned in his serious voice. It was almost enough to make her smile. Almost. Klaus was about to answer, to tell Stefan that he'd take care of her and love her until the end of time but he cut him off. "That's not a brother to brother, friend to friend request, Niklaus. That's an order."

"What if she cheats on him with forty dudes and a donkey? Oooh and Elijah and Kol." Damon piped up from the corner of the room, where he'd apparently been nursing a bottle of champagne. Caroline rolled her eyes.

They ignored Damon, thankfully. It didn't matter though. Caroline could see that Klaus had been fine with it. He would have been ready to stay with her even if she did those terrible things.

She hit stop and took a swig of her wine. She didn't want to watch the rest. She couldn't watch Stefan walk her down the aisle, every eye in the room on her. She could stand to watch that even though every eye was on her, something she usually would adore, all she'd cared about was Klaus'. His gaze was fixed on her as though she was a mirage. Like she was a dream that would just poof away if he made the slightest move, drew the slightest breath. She couldn't watch their 25 year old selves be so foolishly in love.

She put her glass aside and curled up in bed, snuggling her face into her pillow as she wondered where they went wrong. What had they done wrong? Back then nothing mattered but the fact that they'd had each other. They'd been able to face anything. Their friends initial disproval, her father's death, Caroline's subsequent depression, and even his father driving his mother and himself off a bridge in a jealous rage.

She had been so sure her vows were the truth. That they would always love each other in sickness, health, richer, poorer, for better, and for worse. Caroline sighed and turned on her back, unwilling to allow herself to cry to sleep. Their honeymoon had been the third happiest moment of her life. The first of course would be the birth of their child, the child that the honeymoon resulted in, and the second would be actually marrying him. She and Klaus had made love so many times that night she'd actually lost count. It was beautiful. He kissed her all over, paying special attention to her face, promising to love and cherish her until the end of his days.

She knew not all promises were meant to be kept, but why did that one have to be a lie? Of all the things he'd promised her: a house in the hills once his business took off, a closet bigger than her mother's house, as many pets as she wanted – even cats. Of all the things he'd promised, why did him loving her forever have to be the one he didn't keep?

Caroline groaned when she realized she was crying again. She was so pathetic. She angrily wiped the tears away. She heard her door being opened and sat up straight, thinking it must be Klaus and praying that he hadn't seen or heard her crying.

"Mama?" Caroline let out a shaky breath. Her son William, named after her father, stood in the doorway clutching his favorite stuffed animal.

"What's wrong baby? Come here," she beckoned her son forward and he fast walked into the room and onto the bed, sitting in his mother's lap.

"I had a bad dream, mama." He complained, wiping the sleep from his stormy grey eyes. He'd gotten his father's eyes and dimples but everything else about him screamed Caroline. What other 5 year old had a filing system for their coloring books or a special system for organizing their stuffed animals?

"What happened, Will?" her son stared at her for a moment before he said anything. He snuggled his head in his mother's chest and hugged her tight.

"Where's daddy, mommy? He doesn't tuck me in anymore." Will's lower lip trembled and a few tears slipped down his cheeks. Caroline wiped them away quickly.

"I tucked you in, Will." Caroline said weakly, knowing it wasn't the same.

"You don't check for monsters or scare them away when you find one or promise to scare away the bad dreams or check to see if you tucked me in tight enough that I can barely wiggle my toes." He was wailing now, the tears falling too quickly for Caroline to catch.

"Shh, shh, it's all gonna be okay, my sweet boy. Daddy's still at work, Will. He'll be back soon. I promise." Caroline pat the spot next to her on the bed, the spot Klaus would usually occupy, and pulled back the covers. "Until then why don't you stay in here with mommy, yeah?" William sniffled and nodded his head as he slid underneath the covers.

He really missed his daddy. Daddy leaves for work before he goes to school and gets home just in time to tuck him in, always. But not really always because now and yesterday and even before that daddy didn't come home until after bed time. Caroline sighed and watched her son fall asleep minutes after she'd adjusted Klaus' pillow to his little head. She remembered when Klaus' business was just starting up and needed 24/7 constant supervision and maintenance. Even then, he'd never let work come before family.

Caroline idly wondered if she'd known this is what they would become would she still have married him. If it were just the two of them she definitely wouldn't have. But they had William. She wouldn't give up her son for anything in the world, not even a happy marriage.

* * *

Klaus closed his eyes and sighed, finally sated. He detangled his hand from the brunette's hair as she came up to kiss him, giddy smile on her face. He crinkled his nose a bit and turned his head at the last second so that she caught him on the cheek.

She made a noise, obviously disgruntled. Rolling her eyes she stood before him and slowly unbuttoned her sheer violet blouse, the camisole went next, then the bra, but he stopped her before she got to the zipper of her black pencil skirt.

"What do you think you're doing, love?" he tilted his chin upwards a little. Elena rolled her eyes again and scoffed.

"Finishing what you started, idiot." She narrowed her eyes a bit in what he assumed was supposed to be a sultry gaze. "I need you, Klaus."

"Yes, well I need to get home to my family." He stood and straightened his clothes. "And possibly to pick up some Chinese on the way home, I'm famished."

Elena grit her teeth and stomped her foot childishly. "When the hell are you going to leave that pathetic, vapid, neurotic little bitch, huh? She doesn't deserve you, I do! She'll never take care of you the way I do."

Klaus slowly turned to face her. He looked her up and down skeptically. "Actually she's quite phenomenal in bed, thank you." Elena laughed sarcastically.

"Oh please, you don't fool me. If she was really that good in bed you wouldn't come back to me each and every time." Elena crossed her arms. "I'm sick and tired of being your mistress! I'm sick and tired of coming second to that ignorant little brat and that bitch wife of yours."

Klaus growled and the next thing he knew he had Elena pinned to the wall by her neck. He shook her once, her head banged against the wall with enough force to knock down one of the books on the shelf. "Don't you ever speak that way about my family ever again."

"No." Elena insisted. "No. it's not fair! That should be me. We should have our own family. We've been together for a year. I'm tired of only getting you to myself when you 'go away' on business trips."

"I'm not away on a trip right now, am I?"

"I'm tired of only getting you after hours. I want you to leave her for me, Klaus."

"Listen closely, I will not repeat myself. I will never leave Caroline. Especially not for you. I don't care if I've been fucking you for a day, a month, a year, a century. I will never leave her. She's my wife and the mother of my son. I loved –" he closed his eyes and drew a careful breath. "Love her. I still love her. I will always love her." He released Elena and grabbed his things, preparing to storm out.

"That all may be true and you can fool yourself all you like. I know the real you Klaus! You may still love her but you're not in love with her. Not anymore. You love me." He shook his head. He didn't know whether or not the bit she said about him not being in love with Caroline anymore was true but he knew for a fact that he didn't love Elena in the slightest. "Either way, Mikaelson, you've already ruined your marriage. You'll have to live with that."

"Do tell Damon I said hello, will you? Provided he ever comes back from that beer run." It was a low blow to bring him up, but Klaus didn't care.

He sped home as quickly as he could, not a real challenge considering it was already 11:30, and the roads were barren. He walked into the house as quietly as he could. Will would be long asleep by now. Klaus ran and hand through his hair. A wave of guilt hit him. He hadn't been here to tuck him in. Just as he was about to go up and see Will he heard a noise coming from the kitchen.

"Sweetheart?" he called out. He made his way to the kitchen to see her washing a few dishes. "Hey, you're still up." he tried to kiss her on the cheek but she turned off the water and dodged him. Caroline put the glass she washed in the cabinet to dry.

"And you're finally home." she replied curtly. "How was work?"

He cleared his throat. "Fine. Elijah was successful in his overseas endeavors. Is everything okay, love? You're usually settled into bed with your copy of Catcher in the Rye at this hour."

"And you're usually home before this hour." She pushed up the sleeves of her cardigan and made her way to the steps. "I've set a blanket and pillow out for you in the living room. Rosa hasn't cleaned the guest room in a week and Will fell asleep next to me after you weren't there to tuck him in. Night."


End file.
